Meeting with Preservation Librarian(and my final day)

Today I met with Sarah who is the preservation librarian at the Library. She went to the University of Illinois for art and art history for her undergradute degree. Right after getting her degree she worked as a librarian for 2 years, and went to school for her masters degree in library services. She was inspired by a woman who was a conservator, and after their meeting she became interested and applied for a job at the Library as a preservation librarian, since she had a background on art. She has been working in the Library for 4 years. She preserves the collection, puts up exhibits, keeps the collection available for research, arranges the collection, and secures the enivronment. She makes sure that the books are safe from insects, water, and that the temperature is approriate. Also she gives tours to people, lessons on book history, and works on the database.

The most challenging thing about her job would to be prioritizing the tasks. She wishes there was enough time to sort through the collection, and that there were more student help. Progress is what keeps her happy in her job. She likes to see the bigger picture of what she does instead of just the one thing that she spends her focus on. Her memorable experiences are just feeling the satisfaction that there is some sort of difference in her work. Currently, she is working on a book program called Adopt a Rare Book Program, which involves people being part of the program when they donate money for conservation. She is also preserving the collection of Harvey Cushing's brain collection. As for her future she hopes to still be in her job but at bigger levels as well as working with the digital library, which will have pictures of some the collection.

Today is my last day and it has been so much fun. I have learned so much from the people that I have been fortunate to meet and interview. I will remember scanning an article with Kelly. I will remember seeing old books in the basement that date back to the 16th century like the Copernicus books which explained that the sun was the center of the Earth not the Earth as the center of the universe and all things surrounding the Earth. People thought that the Sun surrounded the Earth, and the catholic church at the time retaliated to the idea of Copernicus. I will remember the ice-cream party which was held at the Sternling library for the staff. I will remember seeing the staff and the building. I really had fun, and I will be back for the unveiling of the Harvey Cushing brain collection next summer. I think will keep coming back for as long as I am in Connecticut!

Meeting with Libray IT Support Librarian

After meeting with Rick, I met with Jason who the library IT support librarian. He makes sure that the systems are running, that students and staff can access their resources, and covers other systems in other departments, He says nothing is really challenging about his job because he is able to get most things done in a timely manner. On a daily bases the systems are running well, and not many systems fail. Although if he could change anything in the job it would be to see the library with more money to get better resources. A typical day for him is attending to problems, and getting software image identical in each system for the staff. He says that having good temperance, and technical skills are important traits for his job. Something that keeps him happy in his job is always having something to do. A project that he is currently working on involves replacing all the machines in the library, and upgrading the software. I asked about how technology will affect our libraries in the future and he says that there will still be a need for printed format, but there will be more electronic materials and study space. He has been in the job for a year and 8 months and will still be in the job depending on how Yale treats him.

Meeting with Circulation Supervisor

After meeting with the library service assistants, I met with Rick who is the circulation supervisor. He manages in access and delivery services, making sure that documents are being delivered to people. He helps people with their databases, deals with public computers, and teaches classes. One of the challenges is making sure that the patrons are receiving their resources. He communicates with people electronically, and through the information desk. A typical day for him is seeing the staff, and dealing with his emails.

He thinks that giving the best consumer service, and being a team player in the department as well as in other departments are personality traits that one needs for the job. What keeps him happy in his job is the fact that he has good staff members. Some of the projects that he is working on is shifting the entire journal collection, and working on a part of the library that is being refurnished for the brain collection of Harvey Cushing. One of his memorable experiences is a program, takes place at the Library once a year, which hosts high students from all over the world who are interested in medicine. He says that it is such a pleasure seeing the students animated about medicine and seeing the seriousness of the medical students who teach them. Some achievements of his are making sure that the department has a good reputation, and going to Mississppi to cook food for Hurricane Katrina victims. He is not sure what he will be doing in about 5-10 years but he hopes to still keeping cooking.

Meeting with Library Service Assistants

Yesterday I met with the library service assistants of the document delivery department. First I spoke with Vermetha, who orders journals and articles, makes sure that they come in, and makes sure that the patrons receive them in a timely manner. She verifies citations which she says is a challenging thing to do. A typical day for her is ordering books, journals, and articles, receiving updating requests, and searching different databases. She has been in the job since 1996, and has been in the University for 24 years. Currently, she is taking classes to become an academic librarian. Then I met with Carol who performs inhouse request. She basciallly retrives articles and print them out for patrons. She started out shelving books 28 years ago, and now likes being a library service assistant.

After speaking with Carol, I met with Kelly who performs digital preservation. She provides information to people by scanning articles from old books that cannot be taken out of the library. She is currently working on the alumni bullentin, and a Peter Parker collection, which she will send to the media center. Some of her acheivements include helping people to find articles, using old stuff, and finding interesting things in old books. She has been in the job for 6 years, and sees herself doing some kind of library type things in the future.

Meeting with Head of Collection Department

So after meeting with the acquisition assistants, I met with Daniel, who is the head of the collection department and management. He manages the department by helping the staff, he makes sure that the budget is proficient and is not over-spent, and he is really involved with HINARI, which is a website that offers books to other countries. Daniel did not start out as a librarian, actually he was interested in politics. He recieved his bachelors degree in political science from the Appalachain State University, but recieved his library degree from the University of Maryland.He likes being a librarian, but says that it is challenging to keep on top of everything. He would like to spend more time on HINARI if there was anything he could change.
What is necessary for him to be happy is being able to not get overwhelmed, just trying to get things aligned. A typical day for him is looking at his schedule, going to meetings, and talking to the staff in the department to see how things are going. He also goes to a class on time management; the activities varies from day to day. His memorable experiences are solving problems of people and working with the staff. One of his acheivements is using funds for usage of data. He has been in the job for 2 and a half years and 8 years at Yale. He hopes to still be in the job and will adapt to the change as the job keeps evolving.

Meeting with acquisitions asssistants

After meeting with Mark, I met with some acquisitions assistants. First I talked with Mary who works in the print journal collection, keep records straighten out online, and answers people problems. She makes sure that people has access to information. The most challenging thing for her is keeping up to date, and not having enough time. If there was anything that she could change it would having enough time to communicate more with people and sharing ideas with them. She is currently working on catching up with the binding, and will be centering information for the interlibrary loan. She also does the reference desk, update records, answer questions through email, website, and face-to-face contact, and provides journals to other countries through HINARI. In the future, she hopes to become a reference librarian because she likes the contact, and is working towards that goal by getting a degree. She has been in the job for 3 years.

Then I met with Jeannette who orders electronic journals through HINARI and EBSCONET. She started off in the circulation department for 21 years, and changed into the collection development. The most challenging thing for her is making sure to get the correct records. On a daily basis she bascially looks at her email, responds to them, and sets up a schedule for the next day. She has been in the career for 44 years, and one of her proudest achievements has been organizing. She hopes that in the next 2-5 years she is retired.

After meeting with Jeannette, I met Melissa who orders books, pays for the books, and catalogs them. Electronic and navigation are both challenges for her. If she could change anything at all in the job, it would be developing more structure and having a clear view of things. She orders books for the historical part of the library, and she says that cataloging is the most difficult. Also she mentioned that having good organization skills and paying attention to details are important traits that one needs for her job. She feels that in order for her to be happy in her job there needs to be a variety of things. She is not working on anything particular at this point other than that she just finished on cataloging books that took a long time since it was a collection. Her acheievements have been learning how to catalog books.

Meeting with Clinical Support Librarian

Today I met with Mark who is a clinical support librarian. He helps clinicians to get information for patients, helps people use technology, create information on Cds, and restructures the PDA page on the Yale website. After getting a masters degree in anthropology, he went to China where he worked for 2 years. He came back and realized that anthropology was not for him, so he applied for a job at a library. He was really inspired by the staff who seemed to like what they did and decided to get his masters degree in library sciences at Southern University. He worked at Saint Francis Raphael Hospital for 13 years, and came in as clinical support librarian 9 years ag0.

A typical day for him varies from day. The most challenging thing about his job is dealing with competing demands, and not having enough time to do all of the basic work. He communicates with people through web pages, emails, periodic classes, etc. He says that for one to be curious, flexible, and willingness to be open are key traits in the job. Though what keeps him happy in his job is the satisfaction of helping people, feeling that he has accomplished something, and the recognition from the supervisors. Currently he is working on redoing the PDA pages on the Yale website, working with the Yale Hospital to get money to support the Library, and teaching a Uganda doctor about the use of technology.

One of his memorable experiences is hearing from people that he has helped in the past, and being asked by a woman how long can you hear after death? He has been to conferences around the country and the world like San Francisco, Texas, Florida, and Sweden, where he was a key speaker to represent the Library. The achievements that he is most proud of' are having access in the clinical areas, and improving mobile devices. He hopes that 5 years from now that he would still be doing some of the stuff that he doing now.

Meeting with Historical Librarian

After my meeting with Jan, I met with Toby who is the head of the historical library. First she gave me tour of the historical library then sat with me to talk. She buys books either old or new, gives exhibits, anwers questions through email, teaches classes, and works on the digital library which is mainly about images. It is a challenge for her to work on so many things at once. She wishes that there was more time to work on collections. Everyday is different and never boring because she never knows who comes through the doors. She communicates with people through the classses that she teaches, letters, telephone, emails, online exhibits, and tour. She also meets and talks with people through meetings like the History of Science and the American Association of Historic Association. Important traits that one needs in her job is flexibity, knowing the materials, patience, and willingness to know new things.

Toby has a Phd in the History of Science and recieved her library degree from the University of Maryland. Some of her achievements are the various exibits she has done and getting them up, the Darwin exibits, and keeping the records of the bibliography of publications that used unique manuscripts of the medical library. Another achievement is being able to organize a lot of things in the past 15 years. She is currently working on the Bicentennial collection, which involves pictures of old doctors, the first building of the Yale Medical School and Medical Library, and donations of a student assistant of Harvey Cushing, who recently died at the age of 91.She is also helping to make changes on the website. She mentioned to me that technology in the future will be widely used in our libraries, but will take a long time for libraries to fully be vitual. Also she mentioned that there will be few librarians in the future. In five years she hopes to be retired but will volunteer at different places.

Meeting with Educational Services Librarian

Today I met with Jan who is the educational services librarian. She mentors others medical librarians, organizes educational program, and coordinates medical student librarians. She also teaches people how to use and find resources online. It is hard for her keep with technology and how to use it. Although she would like to have an administrator assistant because it would be much easier for everyone who finds it difficult to do perform all of the day's work. Her typical day involves reading emails, organizing classes, and making sure the content is adequate. She communicates with people through email, teaching, and meetings.

An important thing that one needs in her job is curiosity not because that one is loosing interest in the job but that it makes one learn more things. For instance she received an anonymous letter from California that asked the question: Does blood bounce off snow?, and she became so intrigued by the question that she herself wanted to know. She gave the individual a list of sources to contact his local hospital and ask the people of pathology. She says that it is one of her favorite questions. Her memorable experiences is recognizing the need before other people, and realizing that the product for which she felt would be huge became a great thing.

Some projects that she is currently working on is organizing orientations for the new medical students, and making sure that her list for which she will be using to teach is revised and ready for September 14. Next week she will be going to Australia for which she will be representing the library. She has also been to China in which she was a key note speaker for a meeting, and Darthmouth in which she supported the clinical library.

Jan received her masters in library sciences from Rhode Island University, and has been in the career for 35 years. She had always wanted to become a librarian since she was a teenager. So what is necessary for her to be happy in her job is doing the best to her ability with the time that she has. Some benefits the community receives from her job are teaching people how to find information, and helping school nurses by raising awareness. In 5 years she hopes to perform some garden work, volunteering at some places, and tutor students for English.

Meeting with Director of Public Schools(continue August 6, 2009)

After my meeting with Matt, I met with Claudia Merson who works in the New Haven and State Affairs as well as being the director of public schools. She is the contact person between Yale University and the school district, and approves a budget. She had been a teacher, and taught at an educational theater. She went to New York University for her undergraduate degree and Harvard for her graduate degree. She received a masters degree in education. After teaching for 21 years, she moved to Baghdad and taught for 3 years, then moved to Sweden for 11 years. Now as the director of public schools she communicates with people through phone, emails, Facebook, and meetings. Her typical day includes checking her emails, going to meetings, making phone calls, and tracking down old SCHOLARS members. SCHOLARS is a summer program for New Haven high school students which prepares them for their next year courses.

The important things that she does are speaking with faculty, and helping students connect with teachers and teachers with the library. Although the most challenging thing for her is not having enough time to do the things she wants to do. She is currently working on making a partnership with Cooperative Arts School. Her most memorable experience is the partnership between Career High School and Yale University. She also showed me a letter of congratulations from then President Bill Clinton. She loves her job and hopes to still be in the career.

Meeting with Public Health Librarian

Yesterday, August 6, I met with Matt who is the public health librarian. He had never thought about becoming a librarian for public health, he instead studied English Language at James Madison College in Virginia. His friend had inspired him where he was working in a library to become a librarian. He then decided to go the University of Illinois to receive a degree as a public health librarian. The important things that he does are helping people find information that they need, making sure that they need it and when they it. The challenging thing that his does in his job is never having enough money to go through the evaluation of what resources are to be received. He communicates with people through email, Facebook, Twitter, going to different places, and attending student orientations. In the students orientations he talks about the information that the public health library offers, and the availability of the resources.

A typical day for him is checking his email, dealing with people's problems through email, and meeting with medical students. He says that a key trait that one needs for his job is being curious about things. Some things that are necessary to keep him happy in his job are getting paid, having fun, and enjoyable colleagues. He is also working on a special project that let students, who perform certain requirements, be paid to the Public Health Association meeting. He says that it is an educational experience for them. His job has allowed him to travel around the country such as San Diego, Orlando, and Columbia where he trained people. The achievements his most proud of are making tough decisions and making them happen. Matt has been in this job for 11 years and hopes that he is still having fun in the future.

Meeting with Library Director(continue August 5, 2009)

After meeting with Denise I met Kenny, who is the library director and deals with public relations. She works to encourage her staff, and makes sure that they have enough funds. She went to Southerner Connecticut and Albertus Magnus College to get her degree in public relations. She also has a bachelors degree in history. Important things about her in her job is being a good listener, letting people to disagree with her, and recognizing people. She likes to see her staff happy and feel a satisfaction in what she does. Kenny mentioned to me that liking to work with people, listening to others, being a team player, having good communication skills including having good technical skills are important traits that one needs in her job.

Her typical day involves getting to work early, and going to meetings which could be faculty, university, or alumni affairs. Also she says that her favorite thing so far has been working on a project called MERCY which focuses on how to spend the collection budget and how people use the collection. She communicates with the users of the library by getting to know them, speaking with surgeons, and the Liaisons. She is currently working on planning a retreat for the historical library, looking at spaces in library, and is also thinking of creating a swipe system. Her proud achievements are hiring good people to work for the library, and the endowment for the historical library. Kenny has been in this career for 30 years and still loves the job, the people as well as the environment.

Meeting with Liaison Librarian

Yesterday, August 5, I met with Denise who is Liaison to the anesthesiology and cancer center. She connects with the faculty, promotes and markets the use of resources and new resources. She makes people know what tools they have to use, and by creating an online site she lets people use easier ways to locate the resources. The most challenging thing about her job is finding new ways to help other Liaisons within limited time. She also works with Holly who is a Liaison to the OBGYN department. They both work to find new resources for their departments. Denise had majored and had a Phd in American History because she had wanted to become a historian. However she didn't feel that it was her calling. She then applied for an internship at the catalog at the University of Massachusetts and received her librarianship degree at Southern Connecticut.

She downloads resources, searches through datalike tools to store resources, and visit operating rooms to speak with surgeons. Her memorable experiences include having worked with surgeons in the ER, attending a anthesisologist meeting, and telecommunicating. I asked her about her experience in Japan having been spoken by Charlie. She bascially said that she gets to go because of her husband's job and it is only temporal. She is still able to work through skype. She is currently working with a group of people to redo the library website. Everyday is different for her but what is necessary to keep her happy is learning new things, her colleagues, and the supervisors who support her. She still will like to be in the library in the next 5 to 10 years.

Meeting with Human Resource Administrator(continue August 4, 2009)

So after getting to know more about Charlie, I met Diane Turner, who is the human resource administrator of all libraries. She is responsible for hiring staff, how the staff gets paid, and recruiting new employees. Also she makes decisions about human policies, trains and coaches the staff. She went State University in Albany, New York to get her degree. No two days are the same for her because she goes to a lot of meetings, catches up on her emails, and has the opportunity to meet different people, though she wishes that she had more time in the day. In the 32 years of her career, her memorable experiences are doing outstanding work, making new discoveries, and seeing people overcome their frustrations. She currently is working on getting agencies in need and taking in new students. Her job has allowed her to travel around the world like South Africa, Togo, South America, and California. She says that the achievement that she is most proud of is her children and "having the voice to do the right thing". In the next 5 years she sees herself telecommuting and tele-conferencing but still hopes to have fun in her job.

Getting to know more about Charlie(continue August 4, 2009)

After my meeting with Judy and Lynn, I had the chance to know more about Charlie Greenberg. He is a Liaison for surgery and emergency medicine as well as coordinator of curriculum and research support. For the past 11 years in the medical library he has managed the information desk as well as the chili program. By communicating with people through email, telephone, appointments, etc he understands what the users of the library likes and dislikes, therefore thinking about new ways to improve the resources. He also teaches people how to use tools in the computer like Refworks. He finds ways to his relationship with the users of the library.

As a teenager he hadn't considered becoming a medical librarian though he spent his time reading and studying in the library. In 1981, he was offered an interview by the public library in Rocklyn, New York. There he taught people how to use the pc Apple computer. He had been hired to work for the Law school Library where he videotaped graduations and was a reference librarian for 2 years. After 4 years he got bored of the job and discovered that he didn't need a medical degree in order to become medical librarian and switch to the medical library in 1989.

He is working on an electronic way in which Yale students can put their thesis on line, and on the Yale Research Institution website. Also he is part of the International Librarian Leadership program, which focuses on helping librarians serve their doctors, and hosts librarians from around the world. A memorable experience was when he presented in front of a group of surgeons which he says was interesting to do. Librarianship has enabled him to travel around the world like Australia, Germany, Scotland, Sweden and Armenia. You can find out more about his experience in Armenia at http://ysmuvisit.blogspot.com/. He also hopes to travel to South Africa. According to him one of the most challenging thing is making people feel more comfortable using technology. Overall, Charlie loves his job because he likes his hours, the ability to create new projects, the environment and his colleagues.

Meeting with Curriculum Support Librarian (continue August 4, 2009)

I also met with Judy who is a Curriculum Support Librarian in the medical library. She is Liaison to the Basic Science Department of the school of medicine. Sometimes she works at the information desk. Also she attends meetings, respond to technical problems, and is working on organizing orientations and schedule for the new medical students. Her meetings have allowed her to travel around the country such as Utah, Denver, Vancover, and Dallas. During the meetings, discussions are about networking and new things. When she was my age she didn't know what career she wanted to follow. She had a bachalor degree in English but got a librarianship degree from Southern Connecticut. She loves being a medical librarian because she enjoys working with her collegues, learning new things all the time, and interacting with the medical students. She has been in this job for 14 years and isn't ready to retire. What keeps her happy is her interactions with people and being recognized for her efforts.

Meeting with Library Publicity( August 4, 2009)

Yesterday I met with Lynn who does marketing, promoting, and publicity. She keeps people aware of what is going on by scheduling events for people to visit the library and making annoucements which appear on the Yale website . She is also a Liaison for pedriatrics and dermatology. Her activities varies from day to day. She doesn't spend the day sitting at the desk all day. For instance she attends meetings and goes to the hospital. She received her library degree at Southern Connecticut. She also has a Phd in anthropology, humanities and technical services. Actually she had wanted to become a teacher but there wasn't enough jobs at the time. It was in 1979 that she had gone to the medical library and discovered that there was a job opening. She has ever since been in the medical library for 30 years. What keeps her happy in her job is the people she works with, the support that she receives from her collegues, and the physical environment. One of her memorable experiences was when the medical library was opened after it was rennovated. She is working on supplying articles to nurses and on creating resources for the consumer health website for the public.

My first day as a CHILI intern

Hi everyone! My name is Jemima Mbaka and I am the new Chili Intern at Cushing/Whitney Medical Library. Yesterday, August 3, was my first day as an Chile Intern. First, I met with Mr. Greenberg who gave me a tour around the Medical Library. The Library is such an amazing place filled with so much information about different health issues. During the tour I learned that the founder of the Library, Harvey Cushing, was a neurosurgeon who was one of the first doctors to pay attention to infection control while operating on a person. He understood that germs were one of the reasons for illness and death during his lifetime. I also learned that he was also a collector of books, especially medical books. He approached the president of Yale University at the time to permit him to open the medical library, and he was willing to donate all of his books in return.

After the tour I met with Bob Hughes, who is the business manager. He decides the budget of the medical library, how the staff gets paid, secures the people who visit the library as well as the library itself, and also is invovled in building rennovations in the library. He loves his job but also says it is a challenge to figure out the budget spending.

After our meeting, I met with Lei who is the instructional designer. He provides online education unit for the library. He helps people find their way locating certain resources in the library. He is right now working on instructional videos on how to get medical resources on your cell phones, and creating tutorials for students interested in nursing.